Canister-type vacuum cleaner

ABSTRACT

A canister-type vacuum cleaner has a cleaner body having a driving portion for generating a suction force and a dust chamber for collecting contaminants that are drawn in by the suction force of the driving unit; a suction extension pipe connected to the cleaner body; a suction brush disposed at an end of the suction extension pipe to draw in the contaminants of a cleaning surface with the suction force that is transmitted via the suction extension pipe; and an electrolytic liquid supply device disposed at the suction extension pipe, for spraying an electrolytic liquid to the cleaning surface through a lower side of the suction brush.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention

[0002] The present invention relates to a canister-type vacuum cleaner,and more particularly, to a canister-type vacuum cleaner having anapparatus for generating an electrolytic liquid.

[0003] 2. Description of the Prior Art

[0004] Generally, a canister-type vacuum cleaner includes a cleaner bodyhaving a driving motor for generating a suction force, a suctionextension pipe connected to the cleaner body, and a suction brushdisposed at an end of the suction extension pipe.

[0005] A dust chamber is provided in the cleaner body, having afiltering unit and a dust receptacle therein. Accordingly, contaminantsfrom the cleaning surface are drawn in by the suction force of thedriving motor into the dust chamber through the suction brush, filteredout at a filtering device, and collected in the dust receptacle.

[0006] The suction extension pipe has a handle on which an on/off switchis provided. Accordingly, as a user grabs the handle and moves thesuction brush along the cleaning surface, contaminants like dust orforeign substances on the cleaning surface are drawn in through thesuction brush and thus removed from the cleaning surface.

[0007] However, stubborn stains on the floor or carpet can not becleaned by the suction force of the driving motor alone, and thus, afloor-cloth brush or rotatable brush is rotatably disposed at thesuction brush to clean the stained spots.

[0008] Another suggestion is to supply a cleaning liquid containing adetergent to clean the areas that are hardly cleaned by the rotatablebrush or floor-cloth brush.

[0009] In the above suggestion's case, however, since there needs to bea cleaning liquid preparatory step of diffusing a certain amount ofdetergent in water, it is inconvenience for a user to use, and the costincreases.

[0010] Another problem is that the cleaning areas are often re-stainedby the waste cleaning liquid.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0011] The present invention has been made to overcome theabove-mentioned problems of the prior art. Accordingly, it is an objectof the present invention to provide a canister-type vacuum cleanerimproved to clean stains on the floor or carpet not using a detergentbut by using a simple method.

[0012] The above object is accomplished by a canister-type vacuumcleaner according to the present invention, including a cleaner bodyhaving a driving portion for generating a suction force and a dustchamber for collecting contaminants that are drawn in by the suctionforce of the driving unit; a suction extension pipe connected to thecleaner body; a suction brush disposed at an end of the suctionextension pipe to draw in the contaminants of a cleaning surface withthe suction force that is transmitted via the suction extension pipe;and an electrolytic liquid supply device disposed at the suctionextension pipe, for spraying an electrolytic liquid to the cleaningsurface through a lower side of the suction brush.

[0013] The electrolytic liquid supply device includes an electrolyticliquid generating unit disposed at the suction extension pipe, forgenerating the electrolytic liquid from a raw water supply; and a sprayunit for spraying the electrolytic liquid, generated at the electrolyticliquid generating unit, through an air suction port of the suctionbrush.

[0014] The spray unit includes a conveyance path connecting theelectrolytic liquid generating unit and the air suction port of thesuction brush; a spray pump disposed on the conveyance path; and a spraynozzle formed at an end of the conveyance path, for spraying theelectrolytic liquid, which is conveyed to an outside of the air suctionport of the suction brush.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0015] The above-mentioned objects and the feature of the presentinvention will be more apparent by describing the preferred embodimentof the present invention in detail referring to the appended drawings,in which:

[0016]FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view of a canister-type vacuumcleaner according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

[0017]FIG. 2 is a schematic sectional view of the suction brush of FIG.1;

[0018]FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an electrolytic liquid supplydevice of FIG. 1; and

[0019]FIG. 4 is a schematic view showing another example of suctionbrush employed in the canister-type vacuum cleaner of FIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

[0020] The preferred embodiment of the present invention will bedescribed in greater detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0021] Referring to FIG. 1, the canister-type vacuum cleaner accordingto the preferred embodiment of the present invention includes a cleanerbody 10, a suction extension pipe 20 connected to the cleaner body 10, asuction brush 30 disposed at an end of the suction extension pipe 20,and an electrolytic liquid supply device 40 disposed at the suctionextension pipe 20.

[0022] Like a general vacuum cleaner, the cleaner body 10 has a drivingunit and a dust chamber, which are respectively formed inside. Thedriving unit has a driving motor for generating a suction force. A dustcollecting filter or cyclone dust collecting device is disposed in thedust chamber to filter the contaminants from the drawn air.

[0023] If the suction brush 30 also functions to draw liquids inaddition to the contaminants, it can have a liquid separating unit forseparately collecting the liquid from the contaminants. As theabove-mentioned is the way that is generally used in the wet-typecleaner, description thereof will be omitted here.

[0024] The suction extension pipe 20 is connected to the cleaner body 10and includes a flexible hose 21, a suction pipe 23 connected to theflexible hose 21, and a handle 25 disposed between the hose 21 and thesuction pipe 23. The suction pipe 23 has a construction that allows itto extend the length selectively.

[0025] The suction brush 30 is movably disposed at an end of the suctionpipe 23. Referring to FIG. 2, the suction brush 30 has an air suctionport 31 through which contaminants from the cleaning surface are drawn.A rotatable brush 33 can be additionally disposed at the air suctionport 31. The rotatable brush 33 performs the cleaning operation in abeating movement against the cleaning surface while being rotated by thesuction force or a separate driving force.

[0026] The electrolytic liquid supply device 40 supplies the cleaningsurface with electrolytic liquid through the suction brush 30 to cleanthe carpet or floor. The electrolytic liquid supply device 40 has anelectrolytic liquid generating unit 41 formed at the suction pipe 23,and a spray unit 43 for spraying the electrolytic liquid generated atthe electrolytic liquid generating unit 41 to the cleaning surfacethrough the air suction port 31 of the suction brush 30.

[0027] The electrolytic liquid generating unit 41 is well-known in theart, and one typical example is shown in FIG. 3.

[0028] Referring to FIG. 3, the electrolytic liquid generating unit 41has a raw water tank 51 for holding waters like tap water, freshwater,groundwater, etc., a pump 52 for feeding the raw water of the raw watertank 51, a filter 53 for filtering the raw water that has passed thepump 52, a first and a second electrolyte baths 54 and 55, and anelectrolyte tank 56.

[0029] The filter 53 filters out ions or impurities from the raw water.The raw water, passed through the filter 53, is flown into the firstelectrolyte bath 54. The first electrolyte bath 54 has a cathode plate54 a and an anode plate 54 b. The first electrolyte bath 54 electrolytesthe raw water and sends the resultant water to the second electrolytebath 55. The second electrolyte bath 55 also has a cathode plate 55 aand an anode plate 55 b. The second electrolyte bath 55 is foradditionally electrolyzing the water that has not electrolyte yet, andthereby generating an electrolytic liquid NaCIO.

[0030] Meanwhile, gaseous substances (usually hydrogen gas) aregenerated in the first and the second electrolyte baths 54 and 55. Inorder to remove the gaseous substances, a separate unit can be provided.

[0031] Although this embodiment depicts the first and the secondelectrolyte baths 54 and 55 being employed, the number of baths can behigher or lower, depending on the situations.

[0032] After that, the electrolytic liquid generated at the secondelectrolyte bath 55 is fed to the electrolyte tank 56 and storedtherein.

[0033] A mixture bath 57 can also be provided to temporarily reserve theraw water that has passed the filter 53. In this case, the mixture bath57 is supplied with a catalyzer from an additive tank 58 that isseparately provided. The catalyzer can be a sodium chloride liquid, orsodium calium liquid, or calcium chloride liquid. Depending on thesituation, a proper type of catalyzer can be selected.

[0034] Accordingly, a mixture of catalyzer and raw water is fed from themixture bath 57 to the first electrolyte bath 54 and go through theelectrolysis therein.

[0035] The above-described description about the electrolytic liquidgenerating unit 41 is only one example of the well-known electrolyticliquid generating means, and one will note that more variations arepossible.

[0036] Meanwhile, the electrolytic liquid spray unit 43 includes anelectrolytic liquid feed path 61 that connects the electrolyte tank 56and the air suction port 31 of the suction brush 30, a spray pump 63disposed on the electrolytic liquid feed path 61, and a spray nozzle 65formed at an end of the electrolytic liquid feed path 61. The spray pump63 pumps the electrolytic liquid from the reserve liquid of theelectrolyte tank 56, so that the electrolytic liquid can be sprayed ontothe cleaning surface through the spray nozzle 65.

[0037] The canister-type cleaner having the electrolytic liquid supplydevice constructed as above according to the preferred embodiment of thepresent invention sprays the electrolytic liquid, produced at theelectrolytic liquid supply device 30, to outside through the air suctionport 31 of the suction brush 30.

[0038] By the electrolytic liquid, stained spots are cleaned. Theelectrolytic liquid is also usable for waste water processing, or usedas a bleaching agent for cotton fabrics, a disinfectant for watersupply, a bactericidal agent, etc., and can clean even an old stubbornstain on the cleaning surface without a help of additional detergent.

[0039] There is no need to dissolve detergent in the raw water, andsince there is no need to use any detergent, the cost also decreases.

[0040] Further, as shown in FIG. 4, when the suction brush 70 equippedwith the floor-cloth 71 at the lower side is mounted to the suction pipe23, the electrolytic liquid, supplied through the electrolytic liquidfeed path 61, is supplied to the floor-cloth 71. By the floor-clothsoaked with the electrolytic liquid, the cleaning operation can becarried out effectively.

[0041] Although the preferred embodiment of the present invention hasbeen described, it will be understood by those skilled in the art thatthe present invention should not be limited to the described preferredembodiment, but various changes and modifications can be made within thespirit and scope of the present invention as defined by the appendedclaims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A canister-type vacuum cleaner, comprising: acleaner body having a driving portion for generating a suction force anda dust chamber for collecting contaminants that are drawn in by thesuction force of the driving portion; a suction extension pipe connectedto the cleaner body; a suction brush disposed at an end of the suctionextension pipe to draw in the contaminants of a cleaning surface withthe suction force that is exerted via the suction extension pipe; and anelectrolytic liquid supply device disposed at the suction extensionpipe, for spraying an electrolytic liquid to the cleaning surfacethrough a lower side of the suction brush.
 2. The canister-type vacuumcleaner of claim 1, wherein the electrolytic liquid supply devicecomprises: an electrolytic liquid generating unit disposed at thesuction extension pipe, for generating the electrolytic liquid from araw water supply; and a spray unit for spraying the electrolytic liquid,through an air suction port of the suction brush.
 3. The canister-typevacuum cleaner of claim 2, wherein the spray unit comprises: a feedingpath connecting the electrolytic liquid generating unit and the airsuction port of the suction brush; a spray pump disposed on the feedingpath; and a spray nozzle formed at an end of the feeding path, forspraying the electrolytic liquid through the air suction port.